In Science, we’re learning about about dissolving which involves being familiar with some tricky vocabulary: solute, solvent, soluble, insoluble, solution.
We know that salt will dissolve in water and used this to help us to understand the scientific terminology above.
- Salt is a solute.
- Water is a solvent.
- Salt is soluble.
- Salt and water create a solution.
We then applied this knowledge to making predictions about other substance: coffee, sugar, bicarbonate of soda, rice and sand. Having made our predictions about which would and wouldn’t create a solution if mixed with water, we found out by testing them.
Finally, we were tasked with getting the dissolved salt back out of the water. There were a few puzzled faces and the children’s initial response was, ‘You can’t.’ However, with a few suggestions of equipment and a bit of thinking about learning last year, we decided you could separate all of the substance we’d testing by either sieving them, filtering them or, if a solution had been created, allowing the water to evaporate.
At home, see whether you can spot things, particularly in the kitchen cupboards, that will and will not create a solution when added to water. If you’re not sure, try it out.